When you delete a record in Zoho CRM, all related items—attachments, notes, emails, and tasks—move to the Recycle Bin alongside it. Understanding how this cascade works and how to recover or permanently remove these records is essential for data cleanup and compliance.
Why this matters
During migrations, testing phases, or integration work, you often need to remove large batches of records. Knowing how related records behave when deleted prevents accidental data loss and helps you manage storage efficiently. If you delete records by mistake, you have 60 days to recover them from the Recycle Bin before they're gone permanently.
Step-by-step
Step 1. Understand what happens when you delete a record.
When you delete a record, all attachments, notes, emails, and tasks associated with it are automatically moved to the Recycle Bin as well, even if you didn't delete them directly. They will appear in the Recycle Bin under your name as the person who deleted them. If you restore the parent record, all related items restore too.[3]
Step 2. Delete a single record and its related items.
Open the record you want to delete. Click the More Actions icon (three dots) from the top pane. Select Delete from the menu. Confirm the deletion. All related records move to the Recycle Bin immediately.[7]
Step 3. For bulk deletion, use the Deluge API approach.
If you need to delete many records at once, use a reusable Deluge function that retrieves record IDs using COQL with pagination, splits them into batches of 100, and executes the CRM bulk delete API. This avoids manual deletion from the UI and can be reused across different modules by changing the module API name.[1] Before running, confirm your data center location, module API name, and that your connection has the correct scopes: ZohoCRM.coql.READ plus the delete scope for your target module. Replace the default filter "where id is not null" with a real condition (Created_Time, tag, or custom field) unless you intend a full wipe of the module.[1]
Step 4. Check the Recycle Bin after deletion.
Deleted records land in the Recycle Bin and remain there for 60 days unless manually removed. After 60 days, they are deleted permanently and cannot be recovered.[3] To view deleted records, go to Setup > Data Administration > Recycle Bin.
Step 5. Recover records if needed.
If you deleted records within the last 60 days, retrieve them from the Recycle Bin. Once an administrator deletes records from the Recycle Bin, they cannot be retrieved.[5]
Step 6. Clean up attachments in bulk (optional).
If you want to free up file storage by removing attachments from deleted records, use the search filter in the Recycle Bin. Click the filter icon, choose Attachments as the Type to display only attachments, then select all displayed items and delete them in bulk.[3]
Common pitfalls
Cascading deletion with integrations. If Zoho CRM is integrated with Zoho Desk, deleting a contact or account record in CRM may also delete the corresponding record in Desk, depending on your sync preferences. To prevent this, go to Desk > Settings > Marketplace > Zoho > Zoho CRM > Preferences and select "Never Delete" in the corresponding boxes.[4]
Permanent loss after 60 days. Once the 60-day Recycle Bin window closes, deleted records are gone permanently. Plan your recovery window accordingly.
Unintended cascade when deleting parent records. Deleting a lead, contact, or account removes all its attachments, notes, emails, and tasks. Verify you want to remove all related items before confirming deletion.
What to check
- Confirm the 60-day window hasn't passed if you need to recover deleted records from the Recycle Bin.
- If using bulk deletion via Deluge, test your filter condition on a small sample first to avoid wiping the entire module unintentionally.
- Verify your integration preferences in Desk (if applicable) so deletions don't cascade unexpectedly to other Zoho products.
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*This article is provided by Beam Help — independent expert support for Zoho. We are not official Zoho support.*